Nigeria
Nigerian oil strike barely affects output

afrol News, 17 February - According to foreign oil companies engaged in Nigeria, the white-collar oil workers' strike is not affecting output. There are however conflicting reports to whether the strike actually has begun.

Oil markets have been eager to follow a strike threatening to paralyse the production of the world's sixth biggest oil producer. The announced Nigerian strike comes in addition to the Iraqi crisis and the ongoing strike in Venezuela - both among the world's leading producers - which have sent oil prices skyrocketing.

Spokesmen of the country's main oil companies, Shell, Mobil and the Nigerian national oil company (NNPC) today however calmed down markets, saying that all their operations were unaffected after the first day of the announced strike.

A spokesman of the Nigerian Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Agabir, even denied there had been any strike at all. "There are not going on strike as at the moment," Mr Agabir today told the press in Abuja. "I think they are going to hold some discussions." The Ministry employs the workers ordered to strike.

PENGASSAN, the Nigerian oil workers' union, was not in a position to clearly state whether the strike had started, although a spokesman said he "believed" his union members had started striking.

The PENGASSAN union called members to strike over a dispute over unpaid allowances and outstanding salaries. On Saturday, the union called its members in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to begin an indefinite strike, after negotiations over the unpaid amounts had failed. Government had been given an ultimatum that expired 1 February.

The union, which is Nigeria's biggest, has threatened to call all its members to strike within few days if the employer does not respond to the small-scale strike at the ministry. A full-scale oil strike is believed to have serious effects on Nigeria's oil output.

Meanwhile, Nigerian consumers were not taking any risk. According to reports from the Nigerian capital, cars were lining up at petrol stations to buy gasoline while there still was. Consumers generally believed the strike would cause shortages within a few days.

Also international markets reacted by a minor oil price increase this weekend, attributed to the possibility of a strike in Nigeria. Although Nigeria is a major oil producer - exporting about two million barrels oil per day - the frequent oil strikes in the country usually have had small impact on exports and therefore on world prices.

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